


On Bended Knee

by Zephyreon



Category: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: Angst, Bittersweet Ending, Hurt Link, Hurt/Comfort, Link Whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-21
Updated: 2020-03-21
Packaged: 2021-03-01 01:35:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,311
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23237047
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zephyreon/pseuds/Zephyreon
Summary: Rhoam has an idea about how to draw out Zelda's sealing power...Inspired by Memory #12
Relationships: Link & Zelda
Comments: 9
Kudos: 212





	On Bended Knee

**Author's Note:**

> I personally am not a Zelink person, and have written the two of them into a close friendship, however it can be read that way if you're into that

People who thought they knew King Rhoam generally thought of him as a fair and kind ruler. He allocated funds to help the poor and hungry all over central Hyrule, was an eloquent and well-spoken diplomat, and was adored by all who met him.

Unfortunately, those who thought they knew King Rhoam were just that.

Those who lived and worked within the castle walls, however, knew Rhoam to be someone who possessed far too much power for one man and was well aware there was was no one who could do anything about it. He could be capricious and downright cruel when he wanted to be, and it wasn’t uncommon for the window panes to rattle with the force of his shouts or servants in training to be reduced to tears. Some of the older residents could sometimes be coaxed into speaking about Rhoam of Before, before his wife fell ill one summer out of nowhere, before she wasted away, before she finally passed the following spring and left him the sole parent of a curious eight year old who was entirely too smart for her own good. That Rhoam laughed heartily and often, and held dinner for the servants in the main dining hall every moon, and loved his wife, and his daughter years later, with the fierocity of a wildfire. That Rhoam died a little more each year as those that remembered him either died themselves or moved away and were replaced by those that only knew him as a man with a foul temper and a pervasive contempt and disregard for everyone around him, who set the world on his daughter’s shoulder and then criticized her when she inevitably crumbled beneath it.

As Zelda watched the receding figure of her father, she couldn’t quite identify the feeling that was churning in her gut. Anger? Disappointment? Whatever it was, it was making her stomach twist itself up into knots to the point she thought she might be sick. How could he not know how hard she was trying? Did he not see her crying in the library from frustration, or the bags under her eyes from all the nights without sleep? Had he not noticed how all her clothes had to be taken in to fit her shrunken waistline?

“You can get up now, Link.” She said, fighting to keep the tears from her voice. Her knight rose from his kneeling position, and for a moment Zelda wished that for once he would come to her aid instead of just kneeling silently. But she knew that for Link to speak back to the king, even on her behalf, would be a major act of insubordination and treason that would only serve to get him locked up and possibly beheaded, and it wasn’t like Rhoam knew Hylian sign anyways.

All the blood drained from Link’s face as he put weight onto his left leg a heartbeat before he collapsed to the ground with a strangled cry of pain. It only took Zelda one look at the warped shape of his knee beneath his trousers to figure out what was wrong and her heart lept into her throat. The two guards at the end of the walkway rushed over as Link dropped like a stone in water and distantly Zelda was aware of her father pausing to watch the commotion.

“He needs to be taken to the infirmary at once!” Zelda said, more for herself than anything else. The guards nodded and each took one of Link’s arms over their shoulders, supporting him between them, and Link cried out as he was lifted up and his knee was jostled. Rhoam stepped back out of the way as the guards rushed past, something which under normal circumstances would have been a thing to marvel at, and caught Zelda by her elbow as she made to follow them.

“What’s wrong with him?” he asked, and though the question itself conveyed a sense of worry and concern, Zelda knew that he hadn’t genuinely felt for someone else in a long time.

“His knee was injured in the Yiga attack several weeks ago, and though the healers released him for duty it seems that putting weight on it for so long put undue strain on it.” Zelda snapped, talking back to her father in the only way she knew how. She wrenched her arm out of her father’s grasp, and he let her, watching her as a wolf watches prey as she rushed to catch up with her knight.

* * *

When Link awoke sometime later, that last thing he remembered was being held down by the healers as another wrenched his knee back into alignment. He was pretty sure he had then thrown up on one of them, but with as fuzzy as the pain had made his memory, he couldn’t be sure. A cursory glance around told Link he was in one of the infirmary’s private rooms, his bad knee propped up and uncovered. A thick bulk of bandages kept it immobile, and though he could feel it throbbing in time with his heart most of the pain was kept at bay by the red brew he had no doubt was in his system.

“Link! You’re awake!” Link looked over to see Zelda sitting by his bedside, a thick tome open in her lap. “Do you remember what happened?” Link squinted at the beams in the ceiling, thinking back, and Zelda took his pause as a no. “Your knee gave out on the walkway.”

It all came back to Link as soon as the words were out of her mouth, them leaving Zelda’s study to get lunch from the kitchens, Rhoam berating Zelda for not trying hard enough to unlock her power (which was bullshit), forbidding her from researching the ancient technology, and a brief, fleeting thought of ‘oh shit’ as he put weight on his leg and the whole world tilted.

‘How long have I been asleep?’ Link asked, his signs slurred and sloppy.

“Only a few hours. It’s not even supper time yet.” Zelda said, closing her book and setting it aside.

‘Did I throw up on one of the healers?’

“Yes, unfortunately, you did. I don’t blame you, though. I know that had to hurt, and it made the most disgusting noise when they realigned it. I almost threw up myself.” It warmed something in Link’s chest to think that Zelda didn’t leave him, but he didn’t have time to puzzle it out as it shriveled up and died when Rhoam stepped into the doorway. Zelda turned around in her chair to see what had caused the look of mild alarm on his face, and Link could see the moment her shoulders tensed when she saw who it was.

“Zelda, I’d like a word alone with Link, if you don’t mind.” He said, just barely trying to keep his kingly authority out of his voice. Zelda furrowed her brows at Rhoam’s request, and Link knew exactly what she was thinking. Without her to translate, Rhoam wouldn't be able to understand Link, though he had a suspicion he wouldn't listen even if he could.

“Are you sure? You don’t-”

“ _Now,_ Zelda.” Zelda’s posture went rigid at the demand in his tone and shot Link an apologetic look before she stood up and strode off with as much confidence as she could muster. Link swallowed as Rhoam turned to him, gripping the sheets hard enough to make his knuckles turn white, and hoped that he wasn’t about to be relieved of his duty as Zelda’s knight. If that happened Link was left with nowhere to go, since his military career had effectively been terminated when he’d taken up the position to avoid a potential conflict of interests.

“Listen here, boy, and listen good. I want you to meet me outside in the courtyard tomorrow morning at sunrise. Alone. Do you understand me?” For a moment Link was taken aback by both the dark, violent undercurrent in his voice and the request itself, prompting Rhoam to lean over and squeeze his knee with a vice-like grip. Link nodded frantically as stars exploded behind his eyes, hissing in pain, and let out a huge breath when he was prompted to let go by an approaching healer. “And don’t tell anyone, or there will be further consequences.”

Link watched as Rhoam calmly left the infirmary, absentmindedly nodding when he was asked if the pain was manageable, and couldn’t fathom what he wanted him for. The way he had said ‘further consequences’ didn’t sit well with Link, especially since it implied he had already earned a punishment he couldn’t get out of. That by itself opened up a whole new can of worries, as Link couldn’t think of something he’d done to warrant such measures. Perhaps Rhoam was angry that Link had allowed himself to be injured in the first place? Because now that his leg was re-injured he wouldn’t be able to perform his duties as Zelda’s knight for a couple weeks at the very least and he wouldn’t be able to protect her were there to be an attack on the castle. It occurred to Link after a moment that the courtyard was where floggings and executions took place, and he was suddenly struck with a lick of fear. Though it was uncommon, occasionally someone had to be made into an example and if Link’s gut panic was correct he was next.

When Zelda returned she could tell something was wrong, but despite her gentle prodding Link remained stoutly tight-lipped. He knew that if he let her know of his worries she would no doubt take it up with her father who would immediately know Link had broken his vow to stay silent. Guilt ate at him as she grew frustrated by his lack of answers, and when she left to go eat supper she didn’t return, not even to retrieve her book she’d left on the nightstand. The thought that he had made Zelda mad and that she didn’t want to see him anymore made something in Link’s chest pang. He and Zelda were finally at a point in their relationship where she actually enjoyed Link’s companyrather than telling him how much she hated having him around, and the worry that he had irrevocably damaged it or set it back almost outweighed the worry over what Rhoam wanted.

Night fell over the infirmary earlier than normal, dark clouds gathering in the sky, and Link wasn’t surprised to find that sleep was evading him. Long hours crept past with nothing to interrupt them except one of the healers on the night shift poking her head into his room every hour to check on him. At one point he had even tried reading Zelda’s book, a massive text compiling all the flora in Hyrule and their practical applications, but didn’t get very far before the long sentences and complicated words were swimming on the page in the insufficient lamp light.

Link finally pushed himself into motion around five in the morning, a combination of old military habits and acknowledgment of the fact that if he laid flat of his back counting stones in the ceiling for another minute he was actually going to lose his mind. With his knee immobilized it took a great deal of maneuvering but Link finally got himself sitting up on the edge of his bed. His tunic and trousers sat neatly folded on his bedside table, and the Master Sword was propped up in the corner of the room. Link bypassed them in favor of the pair of crutches leaning against the wall, figuring the long nightshirt he was dressed in was good enough and not wanting blood on the nice blue tunic Zelda had made for him. It took Link a moment to find his balance once he leveraged himself into an upright position, and another to find his stride with the crutches, but once he was confident he wasn’t going to fall flat of his face he started out of his room and down the hallway. He couldn’t decide of it was good luck or bad luck that he didn’t run into any healers on his way out of the infirmary and made it out into the courtyard without anyone trying to interrupt him.

Thick, dark storm clouds choked out the dawn light as Link lowered himself down onto one of the benches just off the path, his knee already throbbing in earnest from the short journey. Thunder began to rumble as Link waited, and when Rhoam finally showed up an hour or two, Link was struggling to maintain his composure. His last dose of red brew had been almost certainly more than twelve hours ago, and it was apparent from the way pain was stabbing out from his knee in both directions, but if Rhoam noticed his plight he didn’t let on.

Link stood as Rhoam approached, unsure of the etiquette necessary when he was incapable of kneeling. He cast his gaze downwards at the cobblestones in the path as the king came to a stop in front of him, and Link braced himself for whatever might be coming.

“Good, you came. You didn’t tell anyone where you were going, did you?” Rhoam asked, and Link could feel his eyes boring into the back of his neck. He shook his head, and kept his eyes lowered as a long silence stretched out between them.

“Have you forgotten the most basic of etiquette?” Rhoam said finally after a long few minutes. “Aren’t you going to kneel before your king?” Link looked up at the question, meeting Rhoam’s eyes with a furrow in his brow. There was no way in Hyrule Link could kneel in his current condition, not with crutches and a splint, and Link couldn’t figure out what Rhoam wanted from him.

Time seemed to slow down as Rhoam kicked out and slammed his boot into Link’s knee, and his vision went white as he felt something stretch too far and snap. Link cried out in pain as he started to fall backwards, but was stopped by Rhoam grabbing the collar of his shirt. For a moment Link hung there, trying not to throw up from the inescapable, all-consuming pain, supported only by Rhoam’s iron grip. Before he could even begin string together two thoughts about why Rhoam had done such a thing, Link’s attention was drawn by the familiar noise of a sword being drawn. He watched in horror as Rhoam pulled the black sword of a royal guardsmen from a scabbard he hadn’t noticed at his hip, and there wasn’t anything Link could do but struggle and watch as it slid home between two of his ribs, emerging out the other side covered in blood.

Link tasted blood in his mouth as Rhoam let him go, screaming as contact with the ground jostled the sword lodged in him.His hands fluttered around the blade of the sword, panic clouding his judgment, as blood flowed hot and fast out onto the cobblestones. Already the world was graying out at the edges as Rhoam stepped out of Link’s line of sight, face passive and blank, and distantly Link was aware that he was dying. His limbs felt as though they were made of iron, and when the heavens opened up with a great flash of lightning he couldn’t feel the rain hitting his face.

Link coughed as he felt blood surging up his throat, the torrential downpour washing it away almost immediately, and he whimpered at the stab of pain it caused. As darkness tugged at Link’s consciousness, a strange mechanical sound reached his ears over the pounding of the rain and he was struck with a new wave of fear as a guardian stepped into the courtyard. It lit up pink as its glowing eye locked onto Link’s prone form and there was nothing he could do as it targeted him with its laser and prepared to fire. Another cough ripped its way out of Link’s throat, and he prayed that the blood loss would take him before the explosive bolt from the guardian. He had seen their destructive power enough times with Zelda, and the both of them agreed that being on the receiving end would be a terrible way to go. Link’s breathing grew ragged and wet as a sudden wave of bone-deep tiredness washed over him, and he hoped that Zelda wouldn’t try to go after Rhoam when she found out. If Rhoam was mad enough to kill the knight supposedly fated to save Hyrule then Link had no doubt he was mad enough to do so to his own daughter, and it twisted something in Link’s stomach to think of Zelda meeting an end like this.

“Link! No!” Zelda’s voice cut through the rain a moment before she threw herself into Link’s dimming sight line, between him and the guardian. She was wearing her long linen night-gown rather than her high court dress or tunic and trousers, and Link would have averted his eyes in respect to the princess’ modesty if he could have found the energy to do so. Zelda held up her right hand as the guardian bore down on them, as if she could stop the blast all by herself, and as Link watched a burning visage of the Triforce seared itself into the back of Zelda’s hand. A blinding burst of golden light followed a heartbeat later, whiting out Link’s vision, and he knew nothing more.

* * *

It was three days before Zelda saw Rhoam again. Initially she’d regarded her father’s request to meet her in the northwest courtyard at such an early hour with no small amount of suspicion, even though a small part of her that was still eight years old hoped that it would be for an apology. It had been crushed, though, when panic like she’d never felt before, hot and desperate, struck her like lightning when she stepped into the courtyard to see Link lying on the ground in a frighteningly large pool of blood with a guardian bearing down on him, and her father watching passively from outside the blast zone. Afterwards, in the rush to save Link’s life, he was nowhere to be found and he hadn’t shown up to check and see if he had killed the hero who was supposed to save them all. She wasn’t sure when he had slipped away, but she figured it had been after her power had come exploding out, the desperation to save Link’s life unlocking something she hadn’t been able to by herself. After all, he had gotten what he wanted.

Zelda looked up from her lap to where Link lay surrounded by white bedclothes, pale and still save for the rise and fall of his chest, but found her gaze once again drawn to the back of her hand. The skin bore no evidence of the blazing Triforce that had been there, but the image of it was burned into Zelda’s mind and she couldn’t stop expecting it to still be there. She could try channeling her sealing power again to see if it would return, but even though the barrier keeping her from it had dissolved away, something else was still preventing her from trying.

A knock on the door frame pulled Zelda from her thoughts and she stood to see her father flanked by two guards, still wearing his fine silk clothes but missing his crown and other gold ornaments. It was a sure sign that the high courts were in the middle of drawing up deposition papers, that they found Rhoam’s actions to be deplorable enough to formally remove him from the throne. His fate after that was still up in the air, and would only settle when the Goddess decided if she was going to call Link home or not; if he lived it would be attempted murder and twenty five years in the Castle Town prison, but if not then it was pure, cold-blooded murder and a one way trip to the gallows.

“He will live, Hylia willing, but even with Mipha’s help the healers are certain he will never walk right again.” Zelda said, turning her back on Rhoam to gaze out the window at the relentless rain. It hadn’t slowed or stopped once since it had started, and some of the more pious members of the castle were calling it an omen from the Goddess.

“Yes, he was fortunate that there are such talented healers on call.”

“Indeed, though they nearly exhausted themselves trying to keep him from succumbing to the extensive internal injuries that _you_ caused.” Zelda hissed, aware of the venom in her voice. She halfway expected Rhoam to shout at her for showing such disrespect to her father and king, but with him all but deposed he no longer had the authority to speak to anyone like that. “You are dismissed.” Zelda knew it had to have killed Rhoam to be dismissed so flippantly, by his own daughter no less, but with his station stripped of him he could do nothing but reluctantly comply as the guards escorted him away.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Link shift minutely and was at his bedside in an instant as consciousness returned to him and he groaned weakly in pain. His eyes rolled as he gripped the sheets of his bed, and Zelda was quick to shove a bedpan under his mouth when he tried to bend his bad knee and all the blood drained from his face. The covers of the bed had been thrown back in Link’s struggles, and Zelda’s heart lept into her throat when she saw the fresh blood staining his bandages. One of the healers must have heard the commotion because Zelda suddenly found herself bundled out of Link’s room and into the hallway with only the bowl of Link’s sick for company. A bit of the pungent smell wafted up to her, and she furtively checked her surroundings before discreetly slipping the bowl onto the cart of supplies parked by the door. With nothing to do until the healers finished and allowed her back into Link’s room, Zelda wandered down to the end of the long hallway and braced herself against the sill of the window there.

From her vantage point Zelda had perfect view of the courtyard where Rhoam had nearly murdered Link, the derelict form of the guardian still somewhat visible through the rain. It had shut down after taking the brunt of Zelda’s power, and had stubbornly remained that way despite the best efforts of all those who were researching them. Nothing anyone did would bring it back, and though it had nearly taken Link’s life Zelda couldn’t help but feel a pang at its loss. It was a piece of Hyrule’s history from an era with no other surviving artifacts beyond the guardians and shrines scattered about the country, and Zelda couldn't help but feel bad for destroying it.

“Ma’am? You may come back in, now.” Zelda started at the quiet words from the healer behind her, and she shook herself to return from whatever daydream world she had gotten lost in.

“Is he well enough to speak to?”

“Well, he is somewhat conscious now, but he has been heavily sedated for the pain, and I’m not sure how much time he has.” Zelda grimaced, but schooled her expression back into something more neutral as the healer bowed her head and left. Link was slightly propped up when Zelda gingerly eased the door open, covers turned down and torso bare save for the great lengths of bandages wrapped around it. His gaze lazily moved to her as she entered, and Zelda was glad to see recognition there. It didn’t last long, though, before the call of sleep was too strong for Link to ignore and his eyes slipped shut.

With a great sigh Zelda sank into the chair by Link’s bedside and studied his prone form, all the defenses he surrounded himself with in his waking hours gone. A great deal of pressure had been put on him when he had gone from just Link of Castle Town to Link, hero fated to slay the darkness, so much so it had rendered him mute. He would rather lop off a limb than show vulnerability, especially to Zelda, as if doing so would prove him to be the imposter Zelda suspected he thought he was.

Zelda turned at another, much gentler, rap on the door frame and breathed a sigh of relief as she took in Mipha’s slight form. Though her blue sash was dry, her skin was damp, indicating she’d come straight from the water pool in the guest quarters. She’d not been gone more than four or five hours since her last session with Link, which Zelda knew was pushing the limits of what she could do and not collapse from sheer exhaustion.

“Mipha, you know we don’t need two champions in the infirmary.” A momentary look of surprise passed over Mipha’s face before easing into a kind smile as she pulled Zelda into a tight hug.

“I passed Rhoam in the hallway,” Mipha said, her expression falling, “oh Zelda, I’m so sorry.”

“I just can’t believe this is all happening.” Zelda sighed, trying and failing to hold back the burning in her throat and eyes. The two of them separated a moment later, and while Mipha took up the chair at Link’s bedside, moving to work on his wrecked knee, Zelda made her way to the room’s single window. As she watched the rain sheet down outside, she couldn’t help the disquiet in her very soul. For if Ganon truly was attempting to return, then Rhoam had possibly doomed them all.

**Author's Note:**

> So I'm like 90% sure that the title is actually a lyric from some Christian pop-rock song, but I have an uncle who can‘t consume media with simple literary themes without chiming in that they're in the bible, so it was probably inevitable.
> 
> Comment and kudo plz and thank
> 
> EDIT—IT‘S THE NAME OF A BOYZ II MEN SONG


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